State's laws still lag federal regulations

Jul. 3, 2013

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CentralOhio.com

Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo

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Three years ago, Ohio had no criminal statue against selling a human being like a piece of cattle. Even now, a 13-year-old girl can be convicted as a prostitute, and human traffickers can advertise exotic, erotic massages online and in print.

Advocates say Ohio has come a long way since 78 Toledo sex slaves were found at a Harrisburg, Pa., truck stop in December 2005. However, the state’s laws against human trafficking still lag federal regulations and warranted only a “C” on the 2012 report card of a national organization combating human trafficking.

State Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, hopes to tackle the demand for sex trafficking and improve Ohio’s grade with legislation that stiffens penalties for people who buy sex, prohibits advertising child sex services, and terminates parental rights for mothers and fathers who traffick their children. House Bill 130, which passed out the House of Representatives 98-0 Wednesday, also would make it easier to prosecute people who sell children and developmentally disabled individuals as sex slaves.

Fedor never had heard of human trafficking until the 2005 bust revealed 78 of the 151 victims and all but one of the 18 traffickers were from Toledo.

“We didn’t see it. It’s in our own backyard, but we didn’t see it,” she said. “I had a sense that laws needed to be changed, because I always heard pimps have a stable of women, and they can just do whatever they want with them. It’s a pretty brutal world.”

At the time, Ohio had no statute against selling another human even though federal law banned the activity in 2000 — a fact pimps and johns exploited in the Buckeye State. It took an additional five years before legislators criminalized human trafficking, becoming the 45th state to do so.

“It’s taken a long time, and we’re starting to crack the egg of boys will be boys, rite of passage. I heard those terminologies — from my colleagues,” Fedor said.

Part of educating legislators involved collecting data about the problem. In 2010, Celia Williamson, a social work professor at the University of Toledo, spearheaded an effort to count human trafficking victims — a difficult task because victims rarely report the offense.

The researcher’s focus became young, female victims because most people are more sympathetic to their plight than adult women, men or boys, who also are victims of sex and labor trafficking, Williamson said, adding selling the plight is critical to getting support.

“If I’m talking to city council, I have to talk to them about how they could save money along with saving lives, because they really just want to save money, but they’ll take the press on saving lives,” she said.

Researchers found at least 1,078 Ohio children were trafficked into the sex trade each year. The data was released in February 2010 and, 10 months later, Ohio’s first law against human trafficking was enacted.

With that law on the books, Fedor embarked upon the next task: Protecting child human trafficking victims from being treated as prostitutes under Ohio law. That provision of House Bill 262 didn’t make the final cut, but the law signed in 2012 did increase penalties for traffickers and required law enforcement officers to complete training on identifying human trafficking.

Fedor’s most recent proposed legislation, House Bill 130, also known as the End Demand Bill, would increase the penalty for soliciting sex from a minor or developmentally disabled individual — the charge typically imposed on johns — from a third-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony, punishable by multiple years in prison.

It’s more challenging to prosecute johns than pimps because johns are relatives, businessmen, lawyers and government employees, said EleSandra De Romano, a human trafficking survivor.

“They always want to place judgment on us, but what about your husbands? What about your man? What about your dad or brother? You know? They’re the ones buying it,” De Romano said.

State Rep. Bill Hayes, R-Pataskala, said no one offered testimony opposing the bill in the House judiciary committee, of which he is a member.

“The whole world is for this,” Hayes said. “It’s run under the radar for so many years.”

Fedor said she’s also optimistic about proposed federal legislation to improve communication between state and federal agencies. This month, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced the Child Sex Trafficking Data and Response Act, which would require law enforcement agencies and child welfare agencies to notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children when children are reported missing.

Although missing children frequently are susceptible to human trafficking, only 41 Ohio children were reported missing on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office listed 106 missing children, showing information isn’t always shared across agencies.

The proposal also would recognize human trafficking as child abuse, which would open up child welfare services to victims.